It’s hardly letting out a secret that Tony Stewart and the media get along about as well as cats and dogs. Republicans and Democrats. Kobe Bryant and Shaq. Larry McReynolds and a dictionary ... well, you get the idea.

In fact, I’m still waiting on Stewart to answer one reporter’s question — just one — without prefacing it with a smart-aleck comment. That being said, he also has a side to him that’s extremely admirable.

Stewart gives. He is one of NASCAR’s most charitable givers, especially when kids are involved. His latest contribution was, literally, a painful one, but it again shows why this guy is so valuable to the sport.

Stewart and Kevin Harvick had a bet. If Harvick could raise $100,000 for Kyle and Patty Petty’s Victory Junction Gang Camp, Stewart would get his back waxed (and if you’ve seen Stewart’s constant five-o’clock shadow, you get an idea of what he was willing to endure). Harvick did indeed raise the money and Stewart followed through, doing it on his weekly Sirius satellite radio show and adding another $25,000 to the bet.

Stewart was one of the first contributors to the camp, donating a reported $1 million, and he’s never done it with publicity in mind. Stewart is a true Jekyll and Hyde. Those who know him personally insist he’s not the same crass, rude, often mean person we see at the track. Good deeds like this latest one prove they’re right.

Speaking of Stewart, he also showed up at Martinsville on Friday sans the shaggy hair. He didn’t lose a bet or get tired of being the butt of jokes. He said it was just time.

“To be honest, I just woke up one morning and told one of my roommates, ‘Today’s the day. I’m going to get it cut,’” Stewart said. “There was no rhyme or reason for it. I just woke up that morning and decided to get my hair cut, and that was that. I kind of laughed about it myself because there wasn’t anything that happened that made me do it. I just went ahead and did it. People who know me say I look 10 years younger now.”

No word yet on the progress of the back hair.